Football World Cup 2006 in Germany

[Garcia 0]

Enland didn't play defensive because they were told to, they played defensive because they sucked up on the pitch. They may have been told to play defenisve, but they didn't stand a chance to play as good as they did in the start. Simply a very poor match by England. If they keep playing like that they won't get far...only part of the english team that played well during the whole game was the defence, but even they had too many sloppy passes...Paraguay didn't even try to attack the first half. Each time they got the ball they tried a shot from 30 m...

Ref was worse than both Paraguay and England though...

[Placebo 28]

What on earth was Sven doing bringing off owen and bringing on Hargreaves? At least swap striker for striker not striker for something terrible.

Actually Owen was replaced by Downing with him going on the left and Cole moving to play off Crouch. I really don't know why people give Hargreaves a hard time, he's a defensive midfielder, no more, no less, what he does he does well.

England's passing, crossing and movement, especially in the 2nd half was abysmal, only matched for poorness by the referee, I actually thought he started off ok but then he lost it, utter, utter shite.

At the end of the day it's 3 points, no goals conceded and we really can only play better.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

English, German fans separated by helmeted police

Quote[/b] ]FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Thousands of England fans took over a central Frankfurt square on Friday and helmeted police moved in to keep them away from German supporters as the two sides began to taunt each other.

Though boisterous, the mood had been good-natured as fans played football in the sunshine. But the atmosphere changed when hundreds of German fans arrived after watching their team beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a match shown on a giant screen floating on the nearby River Main.

England fans chanted "10 German bombers" and other songs referring to World War Two while German supporters waved their national flags.

This is quite disturbing. I thought this time they were selling tickets by profiling hooligans beforehand or something akin to that. I really dont understand why people feel the need to taunt others especially when your being hosted by that nation. Its stupid not to mention rude and it becomes stereotypical and racial when you bring in things NOT related to football like WW2. People who engage in such behaviour should be deported asap. Its a game , why dont people treat it as such.

Football is war

Seriously though, England won't win shit if they play like this.

Germany - steady eddy, can see them struggling real bad in the back once they come up against decent opposition.

Poland and Ecuador - poor.

Costa Rica - I reckon they could squeeze into 2nd place. Wanchope - City legend

[da12thMonkey 1943]

The second half of the game was handled badly.

Leaving Crouch out in front on his tod after Owen was taken off was ridiculous if you ask me. Joe Cole played pretty well throughout but once Owen was off it'd have been better to put him in a position to receive the ball off Crouch, rather than trying to support him and fill the gap behind.

Crouch is very good at getting under the ball when it's sent up-field by the mid-field or the keeper, or if he's receiving a cross; but if he has nobody to head the ball down to when he receives it, or the crosses he's getting are long of the mark(which they so often were in this match) there's not much he can do.

As has been said, the refereeing was poor; especially bad in the second half. Like Placebo, I though it was alright to begin with; being firm and all, but he started having so many bad calls, or in some cases, simply a lack of any good calls.

[Garcia 0]

Germany managed to let Costa Rica score 2 goals, even though Costa Rice didn't really seem to try to attack Costa Rica should maybe start thinking about moving more players than Wanchope over the midfield...

German defence was really poor. They were better in attack than in defence. If they play like that against a team like Brazil they lose...a lot...

[Acecombat 0]

English, German fans separated by helmeted police

Quote[/b] ]FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Thousands of England fans took over a central Frankfurt square on Friday and helmeted police moved in to keep them away from German supporters as the two sides began to taunt each other.

Though boisterous, the mood had been good-natured as fans played football in the sunshine. But the atmosphere changed when hundreds of German fans arrived after watching their team beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a match shown on a giant screen floating on the nearby River Main.

England fans chanted "10 German bombers" and other songs referring to World War Two while German supporters waved their national flags.

This is quite disturbing. I thought this time they were selling tickets by profiling hooligans beforehand or something akin to that.

What's disturbing about it?

It wasn't a stand-off between the fans and was unlikely to cause any trouble. The police were just making sure nothing happened, not reacting to what was happening.

The rest of the article is about how good the atmosphere over there is. I heard that in all there were about 30 arrests between English and German fans that resulted in fines last night. Dare say that has more to do with alcohol than sim[ply football hooliganism.

Whats disturbing is that this shouldnt have happened in the first place. I mean this is before we've even had any matches , this was the fans in pre-match mood. Wonder what it'll be like after the matches and a few controversial decisions.

The England - Paraguay match was a bore. If the own goal didnt happen the match could have ended a draw. Moment of the match for me was Robinson hitting the stadiums score screen in the middle of the pitch topside   .

[sanctuary 19]

Very unfortunate, but it had always been like this since the beginning, football seems to attract more idiots than any other sports.

And this is just another demonstration of those idiots presence.

Before events, countries always talk about how much they must be carefull of hooligans, but as the hooligans pay their tickets, travels, and contribute a lot to the local economy with the amount of alcohol they can absorb like sponges, countries always close their eyes.

I just hope that unlike the past World Cup and big football events, it will not be worse than that lack of fair play spirit.

[kavoven 4]

WUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEIIII

Trinidad & Tobago is playing really nice

Cool game, had some good laughs and now I'm waiting for the second part

[EddyBoy 0]

Fantastic match, 10mins left. kmon the Tobago! A draw would naturally help England out big time. I do enjoy the matches when England arn't playing, far better for your heart.

*edit* Congrats Tobago 0-0 and it was the best game i've seen.

[raedor 8]

0-0

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

You got to be freaking kidding me!!!!

I guess this is gods way to tell me not to gamble

I dont hope the swedish WC-team will be travelling through denmark on there way home (which will be soon)

[mr burns 131]

0-0

So why is Trinidad happy and Sweden not? What did i miss

[GoOB 0]

Uäsch! Such a poor game from Sweden, everything works, except the important part... The finishing! It's so bloody frustrating seeing the ball on Trinidads part of the pitch without proper finishing from Sweden's part. On the other hand, this game had some tempo which I felt was lacking in the other matches we've seen so far. Good and exciting game all in all, but a terrible game from the Swedes.

EDIT: Källström should have been in it from scratch! Really daft having Andersson play instead of him.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Fantastic match!

The draw was well deserved after the half, both teams played some wonderful football. T&T went way beyond my expectations; disappointing for the Swedes though I guess.

[Acecombat 0]

Sweden will now need wins against Paraguay and England which suffice to say will be harder opponents then Trinidad & Tobago ... thats why Swedes arent happy with a draw here. Have to say it was one of those ultra frustrating matches , they were practically playing the whole match inside T & T's half yet just couldnt get any proper finishing touches required to get that elusive goal.

Btw England also havent won against T & T for a longtime or so the commentator said , wonder how the match against them will pan out. 0 - 0 again? Espectro wanna bet

[Pathy 0]

Great football by T&T, you could really see them pouring heart and soul into it, which is all you can ask....if England only played with the same dedication...

[kavoven 4]

Oh dear, that was great

Whole familie sat in front of the TV while our food became cold

Even with 10 players T&T managed to keep the Swedes away... And the one shot of them was really lucky for the swedes, because the keeper would have missed the ball

[Colossus 2]

Nei, nei, nei, söta bror

0 - 0 against Trinidad and Tobago is not good enough.

[raedor 8]

Nei, nei, nei, söta bror

0 - 0 against Trinidad and Tobago is not good enough.

Yep, in this group definitely not.

[Garcia 0]

0-0

So why is Trinidad happy and Sweden not? What did i miss  

Because this is their first World Cup (I think) and because they played well against a much better team (on paper at least). IMO the best match so far (didn't watch Ecuador match though). IMO both England and Germany matches were poor. No speed, only good football when the players felt like giving a shit. T&T played with their heart, gave everything, even dared to attack with 10 men (while Costa Rica didn't dare to attack with 11 men). T&T deserved the draw

[raedor 8]

IMO the best match so far (didn't watch Ecuador match though). IMO both England and Germany matches were poor. No speed, only good football when the players felt like giving a shit.

The Ecuador match was boring. But I don't see why a 0-0 is more interesting than a 4-2... Okay, a 0-0 can be better than a 4-2 after penalties, but that 0-0 we saw 20 minutes ago wasn't that "fast" imho.

[Garcia 0]

it wasn't that fast, no, but compared to the germany game, it was fast as hell. Costa Rica didn't bother attacking, and Germany used 5 mins just to get over the midfield...almost... I hate games that's that slow. Besides, in the Germany game there was never any doubt who was gonna win (except the first 5 mins and the first minute or two after the first Costa Rica goal), while in this game T&T could have easily gotten a goal. And 4 of the 6 goals in the Germany game came from bad football and/or good individual skills rather than good football. Both goals for Costa Rica was poor German defence, and 2 of Germanys goals were good individual skills from Lahm and Frings. Much more teamplay and such in Sweden game. The Sweden game just was more fun IMO.

[mr burns 131]

0-0

So why is Trinidad happy and Sweden not? What did i miss

Because this is their first World Cup (I think) and because they played well against a much better team (on paper at least).

Well, acecombats explanation was all ok for me.

If you take world cup participations into account there would´nt be any outstanding team at all. But then again, top players from past games have retired and so no team (except maybe france) will be like the past one.

IMO the best match so far (didn't watch Ecuador match though). IMO both England and Germany matches were poor. No speed, only good football when the players felt like giving a shit. T&T played with their heart, gave everything, even dared to attack with 10 men (while Costa Rica didn't dare to attack with 11 men). T&T deserved the draw

Yesterdays goal by Frings was worth all teh wait! Best game yet, imho

[Garcia 0]

Yes, the goal was nice, but I don't really take sexy goals over good teamplay and such

The germany match was more like Italian-style football, while the Sweden match was more englishlike...and I prefer english...

Besides, I guess everyone here who is german won't agree with me anyway, since you of course cheers on germany. I understand that...and if bloody Norway could get some skills in football I'd be happy cheering on them in the WC, even though they'd probably play shitty football...

(Did you know that Brazil have never beaten Norway They've also played quite many matches...)

[raedor 8]

Besides, I guess everyone here who is german won't agree with me anyway, since you of course cheers on germany. I understand that...

For me that doesn't matter so much, I'm German, but I do not hope that they win, as they just don't play football well (usually)... that's why I'd prefer NL (Brazil is boring, they do always win ).

Also, for German means, they had quite a lot well moves against CR. But hey, let's hope we'll see a good match Drogba vs Messi (arg, Messi does not play!!!